Jack Leasure Shooting and Skills Camp Regional Preview: Aquinas and Lewiston-Porter to meet in NYS Class A girls’ quarterfinals

One team advanced to regionals for the first time in more than a decade. The other is making a second appearance in the past three years. Aquinas and Lewiston-Porter will meet in the New York State Class A Girls’ Far West Regional. Here’s the breakdown:

AQUINAS LI’L IRISH (19-5/Private-Parochial)
vs.
LEWISTON-PORTER LANCERS (21-3/Niagara Frontier League)
Saturday, Finger Lakes CC, 12 p.m.

How they arrived here: Aquinas took down Young Women (90-28), Mercy (54-42) and Palmyra-Macedon (59-33) en route to the finals before beating Pittsford Sutherland 43-41 to win the Section V Championship. Lewiston-Porter picked up wins against Maryvale (74-37), Springville/West Valley (67-16), and Depew (62-56) to win the Section VI A2 title before beating Amherst (52-42) in the regional qualifier. 

Scoring offense: Aquinas (67.3 PPG), Lewiston-Porter (61.7 PPG)

Scoring defense: Aquinas (44.2 PPG), Lewiston-Porter (41.0 PPG)

VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM LAURA ACCIAIO.

Trends: Aquinas has won its last nine games, scoring over 70 points in five of them. Lewiston-Porter has won five of six games heading into Saturday’s action. 

Players to watch for Aquinas: Molly O’Toole Jr. G 18.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG; Loren Green Fr. G 18.0 PPG, 5.0 APG; AJ Orr So. G 13.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 7.0 SPG

Players to watch for Lewiston-Porter: Aliza Whitehead Sr. G 19.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.6 SPG, Emily Mountain Sr. G 11.6 PPG, 7.1 APG, 6.8 RPG, 3.4 SPG; Alyssa Auer Jr. G/F8 .7 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 3.0 SPG; Casey Fetzner Jr. F 7.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 3.5 SPG; Lily Baird Jr. F 5.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG

Coaches: Mark Loria (Aquinas), Brian Hall (Lewiston-Porter)

History 101: Aquinas last reached the state quarterfinals in 2012. That was the second straight regional appearance for the Li’l Irish.  AQ beat Olean in 2012 before losing in the Class B state semi-finals to South Jefferson (III). In 2011, Aquinas took down Eden (VI) in the Far West Regional before going on to lose in the NYS Class B Championship to Irvington (I). Lewiston-Porter last made the regional round in 2022, a game that saw them fall to eventual state runner-up Waterloo in Class B. The same two schools met last fall in girls’ soccer with Lewiston-Porter advancing to the state semifinals. 

What’s at stake: A spot in the New York State Class A semi-finals against the winner of Catholic Central (II) and Beekmantown (VII).